The home of living English, with more than 820,000 words, meanings and phrases

flushflush1 /flʌʃ/ ●○○ verb1become red [intransitive]EMBARRASSED to become red in the face, for example when you are angry or embarrassedSYN blushSusan flushed deeply and looked away.He flushed angrily.flush red/crimson/scarletRobyn felt her cheeks flush scarlet.flush withMrs Cooper flushed with indignation.2toilet [intransitive, transitive]DHT if you flush a toilet, or if it flushes, you make water go through it to clean itWhy do children never remember to flush the loo?She flushed the rest of her drink down the toilet.3clean something [transitive]DHC to force water through a pipe in order to clean itflush something through somethingThey flush clean water through the pipes once a day. →flush somebody/something ↔ out→ See Verb table

flush• Britain now, on the internationalstage, is a bustedflush.• And what young man is beyond such indulgences in the early flush of being the recipient of a woman such as Marie-Claude?• Pick off just the first flush of flowers from the ever-bearing kinds.• I see the rictus and an entirely gratuitousglowingflush on her throat.• The hecticflush on Isabel's face gradually faded as she watched fitzAlan leave.• The total number of flushes to date is 202,063, with one in five a freebie.• The average toilet uses 5 gallons of water per flush.• It doesn't contain water, but makes an authentic-sounding flush.• The flush of the olivecheek.flushflush3 adjective1FLATif two surfaces are flush, they are at exactly the same level, so that the place where they meet is flatflush withMake sure that the cupboard is flush with the wall.2[not before noun] informalRICH if someone is flush, they have plenty of money to spendI’m feeling flush at the moment.

Examples from the Corpus

flush• Alan gives his wife fifty dollars a week, or a little more if he's flush• Jamie has $600 saved; Adam isn't quite so flush.• If either of these apply, then it probably makes sense to buy a replacement while you are still feeling relatively flush.• Only a few months ago universityfreshers started student life feeling quite flush.• Larry felt flush and well fed, a little tipsy, all the right things.• A flushdoor will have a block of woodinserted at a convenient point so there's something solid to cut into.• New openingsTransformplainflush doors into elegantfeatures without hanging new ones.• I'll buy the drinks, I'm feeling flush just now.• She was carvel-built with flushplanks, and - as a piècederésistance - she sported a woman's bust as a figurehead.• Thus, in the bowels of the flush toilet we see the archetype for all autonomousmechanicalcreatures.From Longman Business Dictionaryflushflush /flʌʃ/ adjective1be flush (with cash/funds) informal to have a lot of money at a particular timeSingapore’s savings rate is so high that the banks are flush with funds.The group is flush and has been making more acquisitions.2be flushed with/by success to be very successful, and keen to achieve more successFlushed by success in selling homes in the slump, developers now plan to do the same in the commercial property sector.3a busted flush informal a completefailureYou can get a dealer who is a busted flush at 30.Originflush1(1200-1300) Probably from Latinfluxus; → FLUXflush3(1500-1600) Probably from → FLUSH1